I take his hand again and he leads me out of the square along the sidewalk, amongst the other people walking.
“Where are we going?” I finally ask after a moment.
“I’m taking you to the Basilica.” He turns to me. His glasses are back over his eyes, and I reach up to pull mine down too. I notice people give him a wide berth, and I’m not sure if it’s because he’s so intimidating or if there is something else.
I stop to look in a shop and see a beautiful bag but move on because I won’t be able to afford something like that for a long time. He doesn’t move and investigates the shop, holding my hand so I can’t move.
“Do you want to go in and look at the bags?” His voice softens as he looks at me, and I shake my head no. “Are you sure?” He points to the beautiful blue bag, and I can’t help the longing in my eyes. The leather looks butter soft.
“No. I can’t.” I try to pull away from him, but he laces his fingers tighter with mine.
“La mia bambola, come look.” He tries to urge me along. I look at him in his name brand slacks and shirt compared to what I’m wearing.
* * *
Dante
I watchher shift slightly and close in on herself. She looks down at her clothes. Her pale blue jeans have holes all over them in that fashionable way, but I can tell they are threadbare too. Her black T-shirt has the sleeves ripped off and the collar is a V-neck, showing the swell of her small breasts. She’s wearing a bra today, but it isn’t very thick as I saw her nipples when we were in the square. There is a sunflower that is broken apart into butterflies up the front of the shirt. She’s in sandals with a side bag. When her hair fell around her, I swore I was looking at an angel. She’s beautiful and pure.
Right at this moment she’s doubting herself and I can’t stand it.
“Please. I’ll go in with you.” I try to ease her, but she shakes her head again.
“I—” She stops and I swear I see tears in her eyes. “I can’t do this. Nice meeting you, Dante.” She tries to pull away from me again, her hand almost out of mine because I don’t want to hurt her holding her to me.
I reach out and grab her forearm and pull her body into mine. I look around us before I pull her to the side and into an alley, where I cage her body to the wall with mine. The urge to kiss her is so great, and when she looks up at me with her pupils dilated, her breathing accelerated, I don’t stop.
My lips come down on hers. At first her mouth is firm and then she softens. Her hands come to my chest and pull my body tighter into hers. Her mouth opens, and I take the invitation, my tongue diving in. She tentatively touches my tongue with hers and I almost come right then. I dominate her mouth with mine. My hand snakes between us to her neck and I press my fingers around the delicate flesh, pushing her chin up with my thumb. Her body melts into mine and I tighten my hand slightly, giving her light pressure, letting her know I’m there. Her mouth starts to go wild as she moans, and she lights up. Her teeth clack against mine. My little doll likes the breath play and I’m thrilled.
I hear a throat clearing and know it’s one of my guards. I pull my head away and feel her leg slide down. How I didn’t notice her wrapping around me, I don’t know. I could lose myself in her body.
“La mia piccolo bambola,you can’t get away from me now. I’ve tasted your lips and you’re mine now. When I get the sweet taste of your cunt on my tongue, you’ll never be rid of me.” She bites her now bruised lips, and her eyes go to my throat. “Eyes up here,bambola,” I order her.
“I don’t know what that means. I’ve never done any of this.” She waves her hand between us. “I’m not a virgin, but I don’t kiss strangers. I don’t have sex. I don’t even date. I can’t. You need to let me go, Dante. Please.” Her words are rushed out, and she turns to look at Vincenzo, who was the one to interrupt us.
“You’re my little doll.” As soon as the words come off my lips, her spine straightens and her beautiful topaz blue eyes darken. My little doll has some fire. “Don’t get in a stint. I like it. It fits you. Tell me who that man was last night.” I don’t address her comments about sex or kissing. I will be addressing those soon enough. My hand slides around her neck, holding it from the back, my fingers pressing into her skin to hold her head up to look at me.
“He worked with me on the yacht I worked on.”
“Did you sleep with him?” I growl. Her eyes flare wide and I’m afraid I scared her. But her bitter laugh tells me everything.
“He bloody wishes.” Her eyes drop, and I wonder what she’s thinking. “Can we go to the Basilica now? I want to go to the Leonardo da Vinci Museum.” She finally looks up at me and her eyes are shuttered. I will get her to open up to me again.
“Yes,bambola,we’ll go now.” I pull away and we start walking again.
I lead her around the island all day. When I take her back to her hotel to change for dinner, the desk clerk’s eyes widen in recognition when he sees me. All day people have avoided us because they know who I am, but she hasn’t questioned it.
I told her I’d wait here in the lobby for her, but if she took too long, I’d come find her. When she steps out of the elevator, she’s dressed in a mid-length white dress with sheer eyelet openings at her waist, exposing her tan skin. The skirt has eyelets too, but it has a backing. A denim jacket is draped over her arm. I told her it will cool off as the sun sets. The top of her dress has thick straps, showing her tan arms. She has a slight olive complexion with a creamy ivory tone. Her long hair is in a thick plait over her shoulder. She walks to the counter, but I don’t hear what she says to the clerk. Her jaw locks when she turns toward me.
“Everything okay,piccolo bambola?” She’s gotten better about me calling her little doll. I love hearing her English accented soft voice. But when she was angry, it turned me on even more. The fire pumping through her blood had set me ablaze, and I was barely touching her. We are going to burn up the sheets once I get her in my bed.
“I had the do not disturb sign out, but someone still came into my room. The guy told me that’s impossible, but I know someone was in there.”
“How?” I don’t doubt her, but I want to know how she knows.
“My clothes weren’t folded the way I fold them. Plus, I kind of left a cup in a special spot and it was moved.”
I love that she is aware of everything around her, but it also makes me wonder what has caused her to be like this.